KCET's Artbound Presents Original Special on Experimental Opera 'Invisible Cities' on Dec. 12 at 9:35 p.m.
Explore the Evolution of the Opera from Key Artists following the Production's Run at Los Angeles' Union Station Last Month
Los Angeles - Dec. 2, 2013 - KCET's award-winning arts and culture series, Artbound and The Industry present a unique television special on Dec. 12, 2013 at 9:35 p.m. exploring the creative process behind the experimental opera, Invisible Cities, a joint production by The Industry and L.A. Dance Project, which premiered at Los Angeles' historic Union Station in October. The original, hour-long program serves as the broadcast companion to Artbound's online multimedia series about the opera, exploring the artistry and behind-the-scenes excitement prior to opening night.
The awe-inspiring special will capture the complete creative narrative of Invisible Cities, including:
- scenes from the live opera performance, artfully interspersed with exclusive rehearsal footage;
- beautiful costumes designed by renowned designer and art director E.B. Brooks;
- technical nuances of combining technology, art and public spaces;
- and the complexities of choreographic dance in high traffic areas, and more.
Halied by The Hollywood Reporter as a "signal cultural event" and "a delicate and beautiful opera" by The Los Angeles Times, Invisible Cities performed to sold-out audiences during its run in October and early November. The opera was composed and adapted by Christopher Cerrone, conceived and directed by The Industry's founder and artistic director Yuval Sharon, with choreography by Danielle Agami. The production utilized wireless technology provided by Sennheiser, offering audience members headphones to hear the opera amid the normal "hustle and bustle" of the train station's everyday life.
Based on Italo Calvino's fantastical novel, Invisible Cities imagines a meeting of the emperor Kublai Khan at the end of his life with the explorer Marco Polo. Khan orders Polo to report on the cities in his empire, and Polo's responses are flights of fancy, cities of the imagination and the mind. The opera depicts the meeting and describes three chimerical cities with a quiet stateliness that offers the audience a chance to contemplate the essence of travel, as well as our subjective experience of environment and time.
ABOUT KCET
On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well as the finest public television programs from around the world. Throughout its nearly 50-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org. KCET is a service of KCETLink.
ABOUT ARTBOUND
With over 50 columnists and cultural critics in 11 counties of Southern California, Artbound provides seeds of engagement through articles, videos, projects and partners, who are narrating the cultural stories of the region. The role of Artbound is not just to record, report and broadcast cultural stories; its aim is to create mechanisms--be it partnerships, projects or online tools--through which audiences can take direct action in the creation of a common narrative. Since its launch in May 2012, Artbound has earned numerous awards for its coverage of Southern California's unique narrative of arts and culture, including a Southern California Journalism Award, a National Entertainment Journalism Award and a Golden Mike Award. The site was also named a Webby Award Official Honoree and voted "Best Arts & Culture Site" by L.A. Weekly in 2012.
ABOUT THE INDUSTRY
Founded and led by director Yuval Sharon, The Industry creates ambitious productions that expand the traditional definition of opera and explore new paradigms for interdisciplinary collaboration. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times writes "The Industry is quickly and dramatically becoming an essential component in American opera. It's now indispensable to the LA scene." The Industry's inaugural production, Anne LeBaron and Douglas Kearney's Crescent City, was instantly hailed as "reshaping LA opera" (Los Angeles Times) and "changing the face of music-theater in this city overnight" (Out West Arts). The large-scale multimedia production, featuring the work of six visual artists in a 25,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Atwater Village, performed over three weeks in May 2012 to capacity audiences. The Industry recently presented First Take, a west coast opera workshop showcasing excerpts from six new operatic works-in-progress by the legendary Pauline Oliveros, and rising star composer Mohammed Fairouz at the Hammer Museum's Billy Wilder Theater. For more information visit: www.TheIndustryLA.org
ABOUT L.A. DANCE PROJECT
L.A. Dance Project is a curatorial collective founded in 2012 by renowned choreographer and dancer Benjamin Millepied with founding producer Charles Fabius, along with composer Nico Muhly and art consultant Matthieu Humery.
L.A. Dance Project's mission is to create new work and to revive seminal collaborations from influential dance makers. Programs include full-length evenings in traditional theater venues as well as various modular performances in non-traditional environments. New works by the company endeavor to be multidisciplinary collaborations with various artists: visual artists, musicians, designers, directors and composers. L.A. Dance Project promotes the work of emerging and established creators, contributing to new platforms for contemporary dance.
L.A. Dance Project's inaugural performance was commissioned by Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance and premiered at Walt Disney Concert Hall on September 22, 2012. Since then, the Company has successfully toured in the US and in Europe. Most recently, a new work by Benjamin Millepied in collaboration with composer David Lang and artist Barbara Kruger premiered in Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet on May 23, 2013 to rave reviews. In addition to the time it spends at its home base in Los Angeles, L.A. Dance Project will continue to tour in Instanbul, at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Spoleto Festival in Italy, Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, La Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France and Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. For more information visit: www.ladanceproject.com
ABOUT SENNHEISER
The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. In 2011 the family company, which was founded in 1945, achieved a turnover of around 531 million euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, and has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres). For more information visit: www.sennheiser.com
